Clinical Speech & Language Studies (Theses and Dissertations)Clinical Speech & Language Studies (Theses and Dissertations)http://hdl.handle.net/2262/2312016-12-09T15:26:35Z2016-12-09T15:26:35ZGood communicators, poor speakers : an exploration of low speech intelligibility and phonological impairment in children and young adults with Down syndromeNí Cholmáin, Clothrahttp://hdl.handle.net/2262/781222016-12-02T03:25:07Z2003-01-01T00:00:00ZGood communicators, poor speakers : an exploration of low speech intelligibility and phonological impairment in children and young adults with Down syndrome
Ní Cholmáin, Clothra
These studies investigated phonological impairment in 75 children and young adults with Down syndrome (DS) who presented clinically with low speech intelligibility. The first study compared intelligibility levels and phonological development in this group with 75 typically developing children (TD) matched by language age. Comparisons were made between the groups using measures of intelligibility levels, phoneme inventories, percentage of consonants correct and phonological processes. The results indicated that the group with Down syndrome scored significantly lower on all measures of the speech system than the language age-matched typically developing group.
The second study explored the phonological systems of 40 participants from the Down syndrome group in greater detail and examined associations between phonological impairment and development in other components of language. This study used rating scales based on constraint rankings from Optimality Theory along with the measures used in the first study to evaluate phonological development and impairment. The British Picture Vocabulary Scale (Dunn, Dunn, Whetton & Pintillie, 1982) was used to establish developmental levels in receptive vocabulary. Subtests from the Test of Auditory Comprehension of Language (Carrow-Woolfolk, 1985) measured receptive morphology and syntax. A speech sample obtained using the Renfrew Action Picture Test (Renfrew, 1989) was used to rate expressive vocabulary, morphology and syntax. Findings indicated significant associations between low speech intelligibility and the phonological system. Associations between phonology and other components of language were also identified.
2003-01-01T00:00:00ZConversation as a window into metarepresentational (dis)abilities in people with schizophrenia : a Relevance Theoretic perspectiveJagoe, Carolinehttp://hdl.handle.net/2262/780252016-11-30T03:19:46Z2012-01-01T00:00:00ZConversation as a window into metarepresentational (dis)abilities in people with schizophrenia : a Relevance Theoretic perspective
Jagoe, Caroline
Schizophrenia, as a "uniquely human disorder", is one of the major mental illnesses (Williamson, 2006, p. 3). It is a complex and heterogeneous condition characterised by a range of psychiatric symptoms which have their onset in early adulthood. Impairments in language and communication are considered one of the central features of the disorder. Disturbances in pragmatic performance are particularly prominent in many people with schizophrenia, yet our understanding of these difficulties is underdeveloped. One influential theory of schizophrenia suggests that the symptoms of schizophrenia can be explained by a single underlying disturbance - an abnormality in metarepresentation. Frith (1992) suggests that an impairment in how people with schizophrenia are able to represent their own goals and intentions, and monitor the intentions of others, is responsible for the symptoms seen, including the pragmatic disturbances. Such an explanation draws on the notion of an impaired 'Theory of Mind' (or mentalizing ability), that is, an impairment in the ability to attribute mental states (such as beliefs and intentions) to other people. Although experimental evidence has demonstrated an associated between impairments in mentalizing and disturbances in performance on pragmatic tasks, there has been limited consideration of conversational data in this regard. If abnormalities in metarepresentational abilities do indeed underlie the communicative disturbances seen in the condition, then these abnormalities should be visible in the conversational discourse of people with the disorder. Frith's model is an influential theory, able to account for the range of symptoms seen in people with schizophrenia, but, it is argued, it lacks the explanatory power and rigour required to apply these notions to the specific pragmatic realm of conversational interaction. Inferential pragmatics and the cognitive science perspective of Relevance Theory (Sperber & Wilson, 1986/1995) can provide the microscope under which conversations can be considered in the context in which they occur, in order to establish if (and how) the participants deploy metarepresentational abilities in producing and interpreting utterances in communication.
2012-01-01T00:00:00ZThe perceptual and instrumental assessment of nasality and nasal airflow errors associated with velopharyngeal dysfunctionSweeney, Caitrionahttp://hdl.handle.net/2262/775452016-10-21T02:01:07Z2000-01-01T00:00:00ZThe perceptual and instrumental assessment of nasality and nasal airflow errors associated with velopharyngeal dysfunction
Sweeney, Caitriona
This study aimed to develop a reliable and valid perceptual profile for the assessment of nasality and nasal airflow errors in speech. To date, clinicians rely on simple categorical or numerical scales of nasality and nasal airflow errors to assess speech. Such scales provide limited information on the type or degree of the presenting speech problems. I'his new scale aimed to describe the nature and the degree of these characteristics, thus improving reliability and validity. The second aim of the study was to assess the validity of the Perceptual Profile using instrumental assessment for investigations of nasality and nasal airflow errors and thus develop a protocol for assessment of nasality and nasal airflow errors in speech.
2000-01-01T00:00:00ZNarratives of stroke and aphasia : an ethnographic investigationBarrow, Alice Rozannehttp://hdl.handle.net/2262/770962016-11-03T03:01:34Z2004-01-01T00:00:00ZNarratives of stroke and aphasia : an ethnographic investigation
Barrow, Alice Rozanne
2004-01-01T00:00:00Z